Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

In my day, never was longer.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Republicans in disarray!

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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70Comments

  2. 2.

    maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor

    Aren’t governors supposed to be out of office before you start naming shit after them?

  6. 6.

    Woodrowfan

    does it run away when you turn the light on?

    We have a “Roach’s Run” here in northern VA (it’s near National Airport). But it’s the name of a creek named after the guy (named Roach) who originally owned the land…

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    Kudos to a Gainesville, Florida paper for calling out Pete Petersen’s “Fix the Debt” group for hiding behind college students and millennials, albeit not very successfully.

    Editorial from the Gainesville Sun:

    If you liked University of Florida student Brandon Scott’s column last Sunday about the national debt, you also should enjoy columns by Dartmouth College student Thomas Wang and University of Wisconsin student Jennifer Pavelec on the issue.

    After all, they’re the same columns.

    The identical columns ran last weekend in newspapers in New Hampshire and Wisconsin. They each included the same first-person passage describing the student’s work with the Campaign to Fix the Debt and its “millennial arm,” The Can Kicks Back.

    The editorial board of GU’s “Georgetown Voice” looked into “The Can”, and cautioned student groups against sponsoring organizations whose agenda and background are not transparent.

    Had they done so, it concluded,

    they would have found that Fix the Debt’s agenda is undoubtedly anti-student and anti-poor, despite its claims to “promote generational equity.”

    from “Astroturf Fix the Debt” Caught Ghostwriting for College Students“, by the Campaign for America’s Future, linked in Paul Krugman’s blog today.

    It’s nice to see that Georgetown undergrads are smarter than most network journalists and the whole of the insufferable Morning Joe crew.

  11. 11.

    Shalimar

    @Elizabelle: Putting your name on a newspaper column you didn’t actually write should be grounds for expulsion. How is that any better than plagiarism from an integrity perspective?

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    @BGinCHI:

    Yup, I have faith in the youngs and the browns.

    And The Can Kicks Back is kicking around some shit. Glad they got found out.

  13. 13.

    maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor

    @Elizabelle:

    It’s nice to see that Georgetown College students are smarter than most network journalists and the whole of the insufferable Morning Joe crew.

    Sure, but do the have ACCESS? Huh? Huh? Do they?

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    To the best of my knowledge, we have no Gunung Lipas in Malaysia. However, there is a town — in Sarawak state, if memory serves — that was once named Nonok, which is Malay for Fotze.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    To be fair, it’s much harder to Fix the Debt if you’re paying someone to write three separate fictional stories rather than just one.

  23. 23.

    geg6

    @Shalimar:

    Don’t know how it works at those schools, but at our campus, the students who write and produce the student newspaper get credit for it. So, yes, they would be in big time academic trouble.

  24. 24.

    Dead Ernest

    During my years in WV, there were several routes for my commute up into Cumberland MD. The slowest but absolutely, hands-down most beautiful was via Fried Meat Ridge Road.

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    @BGinCHI:

    Funny. The Gainesville editorial mentioned Rand Paul’s misadventures with Wikipedia too.

    While I wouldn’t refer to … the debt column as textbook plagiarism, they are people passing the writing of others as their own. It’s been a bad period for that problem: Sen. Rand Paul has faced criticism for lifting material from Wikipedia and other sources. I recently ran an online-only column on Common Core from a local tea party member that I took down after finding it copied passages from other sources.

    Whole editorial by Editorial Page Editor Nathan Crabbe (love his name) worth a read.

  32. 32.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Elizabelle:

    While I wouldn’t refer to … the debt column as textbook plagiarism, they are people passing the writing of others as their own.

    Maybe I don’t understand plagiarism. I thought it was “passing the writing of others as their own”. Somebody straighten me out on this one. Or better yet, straighten out Senator Aqua Buddha if you can.

  35. 35.

    Citizen_X

    @Elizabelle:

    The identical columns ran last weekend in newspapers in New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

    And they thought nobody would notice? What, did they think those papers were only accessible by pony express?

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    Googling Thomas Wang, the Dartmouth student (intended economics major, of course).

    His profile says he penned op eds in the Boston Globe and Nashua Telegraph.

    Have a feeling those are getting close looks this morning.

    Also see that Charles Pierce was on the “Can Kicks Back” story yesterday afternoon. Had not previously seen.

    It’s interesting to watch a story ricochet around the intertubes. First heard of this debacle via Paul Krugman, no fan of Fix the Debt.

  37. 37.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Citizen_X:

    They say that the article was supposed to be a suggested outline to be personalized and modified by the individual submitting it. Weak excuse. The Internets never forget.

  39. 39.

    handsmile

    @Elizabelle:

    Not sure why Mr. Crabbe (yes, it’s a perfectly Dickensian name) does not consider this to be “textbook plagiarism” – except insofar as the author(s) did not plagiarize a textbook itself. “They are people passing the writing of others as their own” would seem to meet the standard criterion.

    But I’m just grateful that the name “Biden” appears nowhere in the editorial. After all, Rand Paul is cited and I thought that today’s “Fairness Doctrine” demanded a mention that both sides…….

  40. 40.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Following a long tradition of naming mountains after the local gods.

    @BGinCHI:
    One of my favorite science facts is that the American Cockroach does not exist in nature anymore. It is entirely dependent on man.

    Betty will recognize the American Cockroach as the really god damn big leathery brown roach with the yellow blob behind its head – not the almost-as-big jet black armor plated roach, which is the Oriental Cockroach.

  44. 44.

    HelloRochester

    Unless you have a physical allergy to cold (like a Very Special Friend of mine in college), I can’t think of a reason to live in Florida. Visiting is one thing (who doesn’t need a week on the beach sometimes?)

  45. 45.

    Johnnybuck

    Shoot, we got Hog Liver road in my county, Turkey Heaven mountain, and Trikum valley one county over.

  46. 46.

    bemused

    There is a Lonesome Polecat Road not far from us that has always amused me. I hear the sign has been stolen more than once.

  47. 47.

    R-Jud

    I live just down the hill from Lickey End, and there’s a street near one of our local parks called “The Darkies”.

  48. 48.

    Dead Ernest

    @Elizabelle:

    Thanks for the head’s up. Will drive it one day.

    Last I drove it would’ve been around 1997. Given that this is WV were talking about, well, you know how fast things change there…

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    @HelloRochester: Well, Florida isn’t for everyone, but it has its advantages. A lot of it is very pretty — not just the beaches but the springs, woods, farmland, horse country, rivers, lakes and salt marshes.

    The summers are awful, but the weather the rest of the year is outstanding. We had a picnic breakfast in shorts, t-shirts and flip flops today. November, Shnovember, doesn’t matter. You can boat, snorkel, fish, BBQ and camp out year round. You can grow plants all year if that’s your thing.

    Yes, there are scads of assholes, but that’s true anywhere. This is the place where the roads end, so it has a freak show aspect to it. Having a ringside seat to that can be weird and disturbing sometimes, but I guess you get used to it? I don’t know. I was born and raised here, as were my parents and grandparents. It seems normal to us. I lived in Boston for a few years, but I couldn’t stand the cold, so I came back home.

  50. 50.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I’m glad to be home for a while. Did 8 days in Germany earlier this month. Then, during one session in the dentist’s chair got calls from my boss dispatching me to Dallas, then central MO, then finally Newport News.

    This time of year pretty much anywhere has better weather than Detroit but I’m still glad to stick around here for as long as possible before being abruptly shunted off to the next emergency.

  51. 51.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @geg6:

    I’ve actually been at the highest elevation in Florida, and it struck me as a very mild hill by Oregon standards.

    I mean, one you’d fairly easily ride your 10 speed up.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    @Dead Ernest:

    Looked up on teh Google. Maybe this link works.

    There’s 220, a fairly big road, from Cumberland to WV.

    Am wondering if you and the VW took 28 from Cumberland, connecting to 46 which eventually hits route 16, aka Fried Meat Ridge Road. Roughly Mineral, WV. That one looks more scenic, but it’s all beautiful countryside.

    West Virginia is spectacular.

  54. 54.

    Just One More Canuck

    And don’t forget Dildo, Newfoundland – there’s all sorts of hilarious names in Newfoundland

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    Good city, town names?
    Can’t beat Intercourse, PA.
    And of course they couldn’t go with the modern version, the shorter version.
    Fuck, PA.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    Wait, isn’t it actually Palmetto Bug Mountain?

    Also, also, too, piling on from earlier comments, anything thus named in Florida must be written: “Mountain.”

  60. 60.

    Yatsuno

    @Betty Cracker: Betty, dear, I loves ya, but there are no mountains in Florida. The highest elevation (not artificial) is on the border with Alabama, and it’s about 521 feet.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    @efgoldman: There are more conservative assholes here, for sure. But as far as absolute asshole quotient, I’d put Massachusetts and Florida at about even, and having lived in both places, I’m in a fair position to judge. I suspect assholity is fairly evenly distributed worldwide, and its manifestations are diverse and possibly infinite.

  62. 62.

    Shalimar

    @handsmile: In this case, the original was written with the intent that it be passed on by students at each university as their own. From the point of view of the universities in question, I don’t think there should be any difference between this and other plagiarism cases. From a traditional definition perspective though, I’m not sure you can plagiarize work the author intends you to take.

  63. 63.

    Shalimar

    @Yatsuno: There is an entire town called Blue Mountain Beach. Of course, they named it after the color of the flowers on the sand dunes rather than anything resembling hills, but it is still a mountain community in some sense.

  66. 66.

    low-tech cyclist

    There’s a Butt Hollow Road in Salem, VA (right next to Roanoke). There has been a sign on I-81 for it, but Googling suggests they’ve had problems keeping it in place. Can’t imagine why.

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    @low-tech cyclist: Between Ruskin and Sun City off Hwy 41. If you’re heading south on 41, cross the Little Manatee bridge and then hang a right on Gulf City Road. Can’t miss it.

    PS: Excellent area for cycling!

  68. 68.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Betty Cracker: Looks like we were within a few miles of it just four weeks ago – we’d spent a week on Anna Maria Island, and drove up nearby I-75 on the way to Plant City to visit the in-laws for a day or two before heading back to Maryland and work. Almost surely not the last time we’ll be headed that way, so the next time it happens, I’ll be sure to explain to my wife the necessity of climbing Cockroach Mountain.

    And yeah, in general, that part of the world is easy cycling, as long as it’s not too hot out. I picked up a cheap 10-speed on Craigslist down there a number of years ago which is parked at my in-laws’ so that I can get around town on two wheels when I’m in the mood.

  69. 69.

    brettvk

    @Betty Cracker: I’m a fan of Carl Hiaasen’s comic mysteries. They’re entertaining on many levels, but one thing I really appreciate about them is the love he has for Florida even as he documents its destruction. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking to read. I myself have an irrational attachment to place; although my heart’s home isn’t nearly as endangered as Hiaasen’s, I can emphathize with it.

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